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Authorities say Lutz man had online relationship, sexual encounter with Missouri teen

 
Underwood
Underwood
Published Nov. 20, 2014

LUTZ — Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies charged a man Wednesday with lewd and lascivious battery after he admitted to having inappropriate sexual contact with a 15-year-old male from Missouri.

Stephen Farris Underwood, 46, of Lutz, developed an online relationship with the Mountain View, Mo., teen, according to the Sheriff's Office. During their correspondence, Underwood offered to let the teen live with him in Lutz.

Underwood arrived in Missouri on Nov. 7 to pick up the teen and bring him back to the Tampa Bay area without his parents' consent, investigators said. His parents reported the teen to local authorities as a runaway.

On Tuesday, Mountain View police called the Sheriff's Office to advise that Underwood was in Hillsborough County with the victim. Deputies immediately responded to Underwood's home and found him and the teen. Both were taken into custody without incident, the Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies learned through interviews with Underwood and the victim that the two had inappropriate sexual contact.

The victim was being returned to his parents in Missouri, according to the Sheriff's Office. Underwood was charged with one count of traveling to meet a minor after using a computer, one count of interference with child custody and seven counts of lewd and lascivious battery.

Charges in Mountain View were pending.

Underwood was being held Wednesday in Hillsborough County Jail in lieu of $62,000 bail.